THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA
or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick
By
H. IRVING HANCOCK
CONTENTS
CHAPTERS I. Alf and His "Makings of Manhood" II. Trouble Brews on the Trail III. Jim's Army Appears IV. Sold Out for a Toy Bale! V. No Need to Work for Pennies VI. Tom Catches the "Nevada Fever" VII. Ready to Handle the Pick VIII. Jim Ferrers, Partner IX. Harry Does Some Pitching X. Tom's Fighting Blood Surges XI. Planning a New Move XII. New Owners File a Claim XIII. Jim Tries the New Way XIV. The Cook Learns a Lesson XV. Why Reade Wanted Gold XVI. The Man Who Made Good XVII. The Miners Who "Stuck" XVIII. The Goddess of Fortune Smiles Wistfully XIX. Harry's Signal of Distress XX. Tom Turns Doctor XXI. The Wolves on the Snow Crust XXII. Dolph Gage Fires His Shot XXIII. Tom Begins to Doubt His Eyes XXIV. Conclusion
CHAPTER I
ALF AND HIS "MAKINGS OF MANHOOD"
"Say, got the makings?"
"Eh?" inquired Tom Reade, glancing up in mild astonishment.
"Got the makings?" persisted the thin dough-faced lad of fourteen who had come into the tent.
"I believe we have the makings for supper, if you mean that you're hungry," Tom rejoined. "But you've just had your dinner."
"I know I have," replied the youngster. "That's why I want my smoke."
"Your wha-a-at?" insisted Tom. By this time light had begun to dawn upon the bronzed, athletic young engineer, but he preferred to pretend ignorance a little while longer.
"Say, don't you carry the makings?" demanded the boy.
"You'll have to be more explicit," Tom retorted. "Just what are you up to? What do you want anyway?"
"I want the makings for a cigarette," replied the boy, shifting uneasily to the other foot. "You said you'd pay me five dollars a month and find me in everything, didn't you?"
"Yes; everything that is necessary to living," Reade assented.
"Well, cigarettes are necessary to me," continued the boy.
"They are?" asked Tom, opening his eyes wider. "Why, how does that happen?"
"Just because I am a smoker," returned the boy, with a sickly grin.
"You are?" gasped Tom. "At your age? Why, you little wretch!"
"That's all right, but please don't go on stringing me," pleaded the younger American. "Just pass over the papers and the tobacco pouch, and I'll get busy. I'm suffering for a smoke."
"Then you have my heartfelt sympathy," Tom assured him. "I hate to see any boy with that low-down habit, and I'm glad that I'm not in position to be able to encourage you in it. How long have you been smoking, Drew?"
Alf Drew shifted once more on his feet.
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: The Young Engineers in Nevada by Hancock
- 2: Alf puffed and squirmed in his efforts to show some chest
- 3: Ferrers had always worked hard
- 4: Consumption is caused by germs
- 5: If you don't stop smoking cigarettes
- 6: This ground is full of rattlers
- 7: The ground is full of rattlers
- 8: Barely had Hazelton departed when Alf Drew
- 9: In the gully three automobiles
- 10: Demanded the spokesman of the sullen four
- 11: Insisted the portly man in black
- 12: Jeered the leader of the quartette
- 13: Dunlop I believe that is your name
- 14: And I missed the pesky critter
- 15: Dunlop presented his three companions
- 16: But how about the assays for gold and silver
- 17: Dunlop is a good enough fellow
- 18: Then who Dolph Gage's crew
- 19: While Timmins threw himself behind a rock
- 20: He glanced down at the cowering form of Alf Drew
- 21: Alf Drew shifted uneasily from one foot to the other
- 22: Joe Timmins was the only one absent
- 23: Harry taking the watch trick with Timmins
- 24: I didn't hear a single rattler
- 25: As he reached the side of it Click ick ick
- 26: Do you really want to work for Dunlop
- 27: Muttered Ferrers contemptuously
- 28: Hazelton and I are engineers first of all
- 29: Suppose we wait until the assay is done
- 30: Harry bounded eagerly toward the crucibles
- 31: Dolph Gage and his tin horn crowd
- 32: But Jim Ferrers had forestalled him
- 33: I never knew that an assay could read
- 34: We'll get up our muscle with pickaxes
- 35: This page he tore out and handed Ferrers
- 36: Jim Ferrers looked on and grinned behind Alf's back
- 37: Dolph explained to his comrades
- 38: Hazelton gasped in high dudgeon
- 39: The camp prowler stood up straight
- 40: Sounded the exultant voice of Dolph Gage
- 41: In a twinkling Dolph Gage had been caught up
- 42: As Dolph would no longer stand up
- 43: Josh swiftly followed Eb to the ground
- 44: I wouldn't be bothered with keeping the rifles about camp
- 45: What are you going to do with the cartridges
- 46: Dunlop turned his horse's head and rode down into the camp
- 47: Just as soon as Ferrers returns
- 48: Gage is stamping about and looking wild
- 49: CHAPTER XIINEW OWNERS FILE A CLAIM Dolph Gage
- 50: Is that Pringle's own signature
- 51: You've seen the last of Ferrers
- 52: Gage drilled him through the head
- 53: There to lay information against Gage
- 54: And see just how I run this magneto
- 55: A dozen blasts were made that morning
- 56: What's your idea of an optimist
- 57: Poor Alf smoked wretchedly away
- 58: Alf sat up shivering convulsively
- 59: White with rage Leon unbuckled his belt
- 60: To please Engineer Harry Hazelton
- 61: Hazelton can go over and help you
- 62: Where are our assistant engineers where our draftsmen
- 63: It was plain that Hazelton intended to stick to the mine
- 64: Around a boulder Dolph Gage stepped into view
- 65: Even a friendship Leon would offer or accept grudgingly
- 66: That Eb was subsequently found
- 67: The three partners stepped aside
- 68: For now the weather was becoming colder
- 69: At the top stood Harry Hazelton
- 70: Hazelton sat back in his chair
- 71: I don't see any more nuggets coming
- 72: Jennison was busy bringing the best samples in to Reade
- 73: And we don't have to haul stuff to the smelter
- 74: Tom himself seized the magneto handle
- 75: We're striking into harder and harder rock every minute
- 76: Hotel living is expensive in Dugout
- 77: Hazelton at the earliest possible moment
- 78: After a while Hazelton came to
- 79: His hand touched a bottle of pellets labeled quassia
- 80: Tom drew a stool up beside the bunk
- 81: Harry Hazelton had passed out of the delirium
- 82: Jim Ferrers reported that evening
- 83: Muttered Walsh under his breath
- 84: Why didn't I hear about Walsh earlier
- 85: You'll keep on hearing rattlers
- 86: Gage whispered to his two friends
- 87: Dolph carefully superintended their operations
- 88: My magneto beauty muttered Gage
- 89: The blasts were fired by magneto
- 90: The tools can come down in the tub
- 91: Dolph Gage and his fellow rascals
- 92: That's Jim Ferrers and the doctor from Dugout
- 93: But the congestion has almost wholly disappeared
- 94: Covered object the remains of Dolph Gage
- 95: Tom and Harry delayed but a couple of hours at Dugout